Page 51 of A Fae’s Guide to Tactical Botany

He nodded slowly. “So we are really about to have sex on a bed of sand. That seems—”

She tossed her hair. “The sand is mine, as the flowers are mine and the cactus spines are mine. Do you think I would allow the sand to spoil my pleasure?”

“Well, that’s a relief, because sandpaper is not exactly the sexiest—”

She silenced him with a kiss, then glared at him to ensure he got the message. And then, to be absolutely certain, she put it into words. “Stop arguing and touch me.”

“Okay,” he breathed, and ran his hands down her back. “God. You have the best ideas.”

“I know,” she said, attacking his armor ties. For a moment she considered asking him to help, but then his hands slid lower, pushing her skirts up her thighs, and she decided that was a better use of his hands.

“Oh, fuck,” he moaned a moment later. “No underwear?”

“Why would I need—”

“Come here,” he growled, pulling on her thighs, urging her forward. “The armor can wait.”

Mara laughed in joy and hitched forward until his mouth was right below her. “Yes,” she whispered, her voice catching in anticipation. “Taste me.”

“Wait one second,” he breathed into her cunt, and his hands left her thighs, though he pressed sweet kisses on one then the other as his hands fumbled with something behind her.

“It has been more than a second,” she gasped as the kisses continued everywhere but where she wanted them most.

“Sorry,” he grunted, then let out a sigh that gusted warmth over her wet flesh. “The codpiece. I had to— oh, fuck it.”

He lashed his tongue along her slit, broad and firm, and she cried out, shuddering forward before she regained her balance, settling into the rhythm of his lapping tongue.

“There you are,” he growled into her, the vibrations setting her limbs to quaking. He flicked his tongue at her bud. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I knew you’d taste like a goddess. Fuck.”

“Do you ever…stop talking?” Mara said on a gasp. Not that she wanted him to stop. The rumbling of his voice against her was delicious, intoxicating, mixed with the explorations of his tongue.

“Sometimes,” he said, then wrapped his lips around her and sucked gently.

“Don’t stop,” Mara demanded.

Ethan chuckled. “Talking?” He slid a finger deep inside her.

Mara ground her cunt against him in reply, and he laughed into her and doubled down, his tongue lashing at her as his finger—ah, no, fingers—delved and thrust.

The storm was taking her, and Mara arched into it, every ounce of her focused on her building pleasure even as her soul sang with love. Knowing it was Ethan finally touching her, tasting her, the way she’d wanted for what seemed like forever.

She burst into ecstasy, crying Ethan’s name to the skies.

“God, Mara,” he whispered, pressing soft kisses to her quivering flesh. “We need to do that again.”

“Not now,” she said when her senses returned to her. “I want to see you.”

Together they removed the rest of his armor—not as swiftly as they could, perhaps, because they kept getting lost in kisses and caresses—but soon the last bits of armor and clothing were tossed aside, and Mara and Ethan were bare to each other. They lay side by side, languidly stroking each other back into fever.

“You’re so beautiful,” Ethan whispered, cupping her breasts and running his thumb across her nipples. “I’ve been dying to touch these. You probably didn’t know, but your dress—”

“I knew,” Mara said smugly. She reached down and gave his cock a long stroke. “Just as I knew you were hard for me always.”

“That was on purpose?” He groaned as she wrapped her fingers around his length. “What about the innuendos?”

“Yes, I was trying to…seduce you. Or if not to seduce you, to make your existence…hard.”

“Holy shit.”